Brexit: No Irish compromise on fragile peace, says Coveney

The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal

Northern Ireland's peace process is "fragile right now" but the Irish government will not compromise on it, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said.

Speaking after the UK government asked the Queen to suspend Parliament, the Irish deputy prime minister said peace would remain a priority.

On a visit to Paris, he said he found it hard to tell if a no-deal Brexit was now more likely.

He said: "My focus is on protecting... a peace agreement that is 21 years old.

"We have a British government that seems to be simply wiping the slate clean on the Irish issue in terms of the commitments that they have made.

He added: "We want a sensible deal, based on the negotiations that have taken place over the last three years."

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The comments were made after it emerged that the UK government was to ask the Queen to suspend Parliament.

Her subsequent approval of that request makes way for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's new administration to hold a Queen's Speech - laying out the government's plans - on 14 October.

'Northern Ireland's needs ignored'

Mr Johnson's move to push for suspension has been criticised by Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Ulster Unionists and the Alliance Party.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster said her party, which is the Conservatives' confidence-and-supply partner in Parliament, supported it.

Simon Coveney says the Northern Ireland peace process is "fragile right now"

On Thursday, Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said respect for "democratic norms" had "long since been suspended by the Tories"

"Boris Johnson demonstrates, writ large, that his concerns are for himself, for the Tory party and for very specific English interests," she added.

The DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party was making sure Northern Ireland was "front and centre in terms of the government's focus and attention".

But Mr Johnson's suspension of Parliament next week "ignores the needs of Northern Ireland", said Conservative MP Simon Hoare, the chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.

Northern Ireland has been without a government since January 2017 after a bitter row split the main power-sharing parties.

Since then, Stormont civil servants have only been able to take limited decisions in the absence of ministers, meaning some laws have had to be passed in Westminster.

The government has committed to taking legislation through Parliament by the end of 2019 to provide compensation to victims of historical institutional abuse (HIA) if Stormont is not restored.

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Last week, Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith met some victims, who said he had told them he wanted to find a slot to bring the legislation through in early autumn.

That now seems unlikely to happen, given the government's move to suspend Parliament from 10 September until 14 October.

'Victims are political casualties'

Mr Hoare, who met HIA victims in Belfast in July, had hoped parliamentary time could be set aside for the issue in September.

On Thursday, he tweeted that the government has "key NI legislation with reporting duties placed on ministers. Suspending Parliament ignores (deliberately?) the needs of NI."

He also said the island of Ireland needed a Brexit deal, adding: "Tory Unionism needs to be more than a slogan on a badge. It needs to be our DNA."

Victims of historical abuse have criticised the government's decision to suspend Parliament, concerned that they were a "political casualty" yet again.

If Parliament is suspended, MPs are unlikely to have time to pass any laws that could stop the prime minister taking the UK out of the EU without a deal.

The government has insisted there will be "ample time" to debate Brexit and other matters after prorogation ends.

On Tuesday, opposition parties at Westminster agreed to work together to avoid a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.